Friends, please post and circulate. Thanks, Matt Noyes

1. Maine shipbuilders protest vs. IAM trusteeship.
2. On the eve of the SEIU Convention.
3. Opposition wins most delegates from big SEIU local.
4. AUD's SHORTS.
5. New book: Sisters in the Brotherhoods.
6. AUD fund appeal
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1. Maine shipbuilders protest vs. IAM trusteeship. Thomas Buffenbarger, Machinists international president, dispatched his deputy to Bath, Maine on March 17 to change the locks on the hall of Local S6, then put the local under trusteeship, ousted the local officers, and took over negotiating a new contract. It was the culminating act in a long campaign to try to get this independent local under control. Routine. At worst, Buffenbarger might have anticipated the usual ineffective protest; but he could not have expected what followed: continued mass protest picket lines, an unfavorable local press, and powerful resistance in federal court. Read. (6/16/08)

2. On the eve of the SEIU Convention. The convention is old news, but this detailed analysis of the issues and players should continue to be useful as the struggles within SEIU evolve.

• Was the threat of a trusteeship of UHW-West real? What impact did open letters from labor intellectuals and student labor support groups have?

• Facing the imminent threat of a trusteeship, the UHW-W deposited $3,000,000 into a separate non-profit, tax-exempt fund [IRS code 501(c)(3)] independent of the regular local treasury but administered by local officers. What was that fund about? Why is the SEIU International pursuing legal claims against it?

• What were the rival platforms at the convention? What are the implications of the passage of the International's program? What are the implications for union democracy in SEIU? Read the article. (6/16/08)

3. Opposition wins most delegates from big SEIU local. More than ten years ago, Cathy Hackett and Jim Hard were elected the top leaders of SEIU Local 1000. One of the early supporters of their democratic reform movement was Alex Hernandez. Since then, relations have changed drastically. In elections for the local's 61 delegates to the SEIU convention, an opposition group, led by Hernandez, contested 49 slots and won 33, a clear majority....Hackett and Hard are strong supporters of Andy Stern, SEIU president; Hernandez backs the opposition platform of Sal Rosselli's United Healthcare Workers-West. Read. (6/16/08)

4. AUD's SHORTS: In each issue of Union Democracy Review we publish "shorts" -- stories that are too short for a feature, but too important to leave out. We put this issue's shorts online to give you a sample: Photocopying hiring hall records; "Harbor Herald" reformers win in ILA 333; Peace pipe for Nurses and SEIU?; Trouble in Philadelphia IBEW Local 98; and in Operating Engineers Local 825, Newark; Administration spies on challengers in Machinists District Lodge 751. Read. (6/16/08)

5. Sisters in the Brotherhoods: Working Women Organizing for Equality in New York City. Jane LaTour, journalist, labor activist, and former director of AUD Women's Project, has a new book. "Sistersin the Brotherhoods is an oral-history-based study of women who... broke the gender barrier to blue-collaremployment in various trades in New York City beginning in the 1970s.It is a story of the fight against deeply ingrained culturalassumptions about what constitutes women's work, the middle-class biasof feminism, the daily grinding sexism of male co-workers, and theinstitutionalised discrimination of employers and unions. It is alsothe story of some gutsy women who... struggled to makea place for themselves among New York City's construction workers,stationary engineers, firefighters, electronic technicians, plumbers,and transit workers...and developed new organisational forms to support theirstruggles, including and especially the United Tradeswomen." For more information.

6. AUD and our message of union democracy are more relevant today than ever. Within the last year, a broad discussion on the future of the labor movement and the role of union democracy (there has been nothing like it for decades) has erupted. With more than 40 years of campaigning for democratic rights, with our board members who are experts in union democracy, with our Union Democracy Review, with our website, with guidance we provide for hundreds of unionists each year, AUD can contribute to that discussion as no others can. But we need your help. Please give generously.